The Rockford resident shopped Friday afternoon at Spirit Halloween, 6630 E. State St., for a party that's happening today. She browsed the 1970s-themed costumes and accessories for a '70s bride and groom concept she was considering.

"Every year, I'm last-minute, and last year I think it was Saturday" when she was shopping," Hollis said. "That's when I come up with the best things, the funniest things."

Like many other Halloween spenders, Hollis is shopping on a budget this year. The National Retail Federation forecasted that fewer Americans plan to celebrate the spooky holiday this year, down to 158 million people compared with 170 million last year.

The drop could be because of colder-than-normal fall weather or because Halloween falls on a Thursday rather than a weekend. Spirit District Manager Mike Holmes said the four stores he manages are just as busy, if not busier than last year, because people are celebrating this weekend and next weekend.

"It just seems to be picking up every year, still growing compared to a lot of other things," Holmes said. "When Halloween falls on a Thursday, it's one of our best years. This weekend coming up is our biggest one."

U.S. adults are expected to spend an average of $75.03 on Halloween décor, costumes, candy and other activities this year, which is down from $79.82 last year. Overall Halloween spending is still expected to reach $6.9 billion in 2013.

The Stull family of Rockford was also budget-focused while they shopped for costumes at Spirit. Addy Stull, 7, already had a purple-trimmed witch costume in hand by early afternoon.

Halle Stull and her fellow Boylan Catholic High School classmates Maddy Riggs and Kelsey Person shopped for costumes for Friday night's football game.

Dad Steve Stull said the group had just started shopping at Spirit, and he likes having the option of the pop-up Halloween stores in town. Those stores have become more popular in recent years, as they open in September in vacant retail spaces and then close by November.

Spirit has two stores — the one in Rockford and one at Illinois 173 and 251 in Machesney Park inside the old Menards store. Halloween City also has a pop-up store at the old Circuit City, 5460 E. State St., in Rockford.